Marler Blog - Providing commentary on food poisoning outbreaks & litigation

As the AP has reported, the bankrupt Chi-Chi's Inc. and its subsidiaries have tentatively agreed to pay $800,000 to compensate nearly 9,500 people who got inoculated because of a hepatitis outbreak linked to a western Pennsylvania restaurant.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the class action settlement agreement, which must still be filed in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware, from William Marler, a Seattle attorney who represents the plaintiffs' class.

The victims will split $800,000, but how much each gets will be determined by how many of them eventually file claims with the court, Marler said. His firm will get a fee of $150,000, though Marler said that money would be donated to charity after his firm pays $50,000 in expenses spelled out in the deal.

"With class actions what's bothered me in the past is that everybody (the plaintiffs) gets a coupon and the lawyers get a million dollars," Marler said.

Four people died and more than 650 people were sickened by tainted green onions served at the restaurant at Beaver Valley Mall in western Pennsylvania.

In the last two weeks 1,200 High School and Elementary School students from Stockton, California, 5,000 patrons of a Clinton, Tennessee Waffle House, and thousands who ate a Norfolk, Virgina Soul Food Restaurant all have something in common - all are being urged to get Immune Globulin (Ig) shots to prevent the infection and further spread of hepatitis A after being exposed to a hepatitis A infected foodservice worker.

It seems that hardly a month passes without a warning from a health department somewhere that an infected food handler is the source of yet another potential hepatitis A outbreak. Absent vaccinations of food handlers, combined with an effective and rigorous hand washing policy, there will continue to be more hepatitis A outbreaks. It is time for health departments across the country to require vaccinations of foodservice workers, especially those that serve the very young and the elderly.

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture has just taken a bold, yet small, step to try and prevent a repeat of last year's outbreak that sickened nearly 100 people, mostly children, who were stricken with E. coli O157:H7 after visiting a petting zoo at the North Carolina State Fair.

The Department of Agriculture announced new guidelines for human-animal interaction at fairs and petting zoos yesterday. It will require the separation of animals and children at petting zoos, as well as the presence of multiple hand washing stations and warnings to the public of the risk of disease spread by animals. These guidelines all make sense, but they are only guidelines.

Recently the media has focused public attention on a one inch piece (uncooked) of a finger found in the chili at a fast-food restaurant. Claims and counterclaims have flown. But, at this writing, most indications point to a grotesque hoax.

It's too bad that some people make bogus, unsupportable claims of food-borne illness. But they do, and that means that health officials -- and lawyers -- need reliable criteria for identifying illegitimate claims.

As spring beckons and families begin flocking to petting zoos, fairs, and other animal venues, a few people are coming down with serious illnesses. Some of the latest incidents occurred in Florida, where 60 people in 18 counties have confirmed or suspected cases of E. coli-related illness. The sources were petting zoos in three central Florida counties, and children have been the most vulnerable.

Similar incidents seem to be on the increase, says Jeff Bender, an assistant professor of veterinary public health at the Univ. of Minnesota and co-chair of a March 25, 2005, report published by Centers for Disease Control, prepared by the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, and endorsed by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the American Veterinary Medical Association.

A list of about two dozen documented incidents in the past decade or so (in IL, MN, OH, NC, NY, OH, OR, PA, TX, WA, WI, the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario, and a few overseas locations) has been assembled by a Seattle law firm (Marler Clark, William Marler, 206-346-1890). Some of these incidents, which affected a total of more than 1,000 people, are highlighted in the CDC report.

Marler Clark, the Seattle law firm representing several victims of the recent Florida E. coli outbreak, is calling on legislators nation-wide to put into law requirements for the protection of petting zoo visitors.

Proposed requirements include increasing signage and warnings about health risks associated with human-animal contact, providing adequate handwashing facilities at strategic locations throughout petting zoos, and designing petting zoos with the intent of reducing the risks of human contact with animal feces. An outline of proposed requirements is available at the Marler Clark-sponsored Web site www.fair-safety.com.

"I realize the measures we are proposing might seem extreme," said William Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark. "But we're looking at this from the standpoint of having represented dozens of children who visited petting zoos and ended up with kidney failure and life-long medical conditions."

As the Times reported in their article "Seattle lawyer says his client may join other cases against Ag-Venture Farm Shows," Marler Clark filed a suit on behalf of Yvonne Miller, an Orlando mother of three, alleging Ag-Venture should have done a better job protecting fairgoers from exposure to pathogens.

As the number of people who have fallen ill after attending festivals in Orange and Hillsborough counties continues to rise, lawsuits are trickling in. The Times reports that in Orange County, where the majority of the stricken live, at least three lawsuits have been filed against Plant City-based Ag-Venture Farm Shows, the suspected source of the bacteria outbreak. Ag-Venture provided petting zoos at the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City, the Florida State Fair in Tampa and the Central Florida Fair in Orlando.

Statewide so far, there are 24 confirmed cases of E. coli infection - 20 of which have been linked to the same source - and 40 suspected cases, Florida Health Secretary John Agwunobi said Monday. Lab tests showed that the strain of E. coli that Miller contracted matched genetically with the 19 others. As I told the Times reporter, I may join lawyers who have also filed lawsuits on behalf of other victims to consolidate the cases.

From the article:

Meanwhile, Marler, the attorney, said petting zoos need to do more to prevent outbreaks, and that it is difficult for parents to keep toddlers' hands out of their mouths.

"They're sitting in ICU with their kids on dialysis and they're hearing it's their fault for not having their kids wash their hands," he said.

"The reality is, trying to keep their hands washed constantly, not just wiping them down with a handy wipe, it's a very difficult task. In these kinds of scenarios, where it's basically an animal free-for-all, you can't expect hand washing to be perfect."

Marler said in 2002, at the Oregon State Fair, there wasn't a petting zoo, but 85 people who walked through a small animal barn fell ill.

"I represented kids who never got out of their strollers," he said.

Marler added that he wants to see stricter guidelines imposed on petting zoos, like keeping them cleaner, having hand-washing stations with hot water and posting more signs warning parents of the risks.

"We're just not doing enough to protect the kids," he said. "Frankly, the industry isn't doing enough to protect itself."